藏青色
zàng​qīng​sè

navy blue

藏 cáng hide

Phonosemantic compound. 艹 represents the meaning and 臧 represents the sound.

Components

艹
艹 Meaning component
cao, cǎo grass

艹 is a component form of 艸.

臧
臧 Sound component
zāng, cáng, zàng good

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1)

臟

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartdzangm-tsʰˤaŋ store (v.)
dzangHm-tsʰˤaŋ-s store, repository (n.)

說文解字

《說文新附》：“藏，匿也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

青 qīng green or blue

Components

生
生 Sound component
shēng, sheng life
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 生 than it was in ancient scripts.
井
井 Sound component
jǐng well
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 井 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (10 of 25 verified)

情清请精静睛猜晴靖倩菁蜻氰靓婧請锖鲭腈靜箐鼱圊鯖靚

Meaning (0 of 4 verified)

倩靛婧锖

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagarttsheng[s.r̥]ˤeŋ green or blue

說文解字

《說文》：“青，東方色也。木生火，从生丹，丹青之信言象然。，古文青。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

色 sè color

Original meaning: press down

Depicts a kneeling person (卩) being pushed down by a hand (爪). Based on the original meaning "press down", now written as 抑. The current meaning "color" is a phonetic loan.

Components

爪
爪 Iconic component
zhǎo, zhuǎ hand, claw
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 爪 than it was in ancient scripts.
卩
卩 Iconic component
jié person kneeling
Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 卩 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (0 of 3 verified)

艳艴艷

Sound (0 of 1 verified)

铯

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsriks.rək color; countenance

說文解字

《說文》：“色，顏气也。从人，从卪。，古文。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.711-712
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)